Page 137 - RSDG Year of 2022 CREST

London, until his death earlier this year. Seymour and his family were to join him in Abu Dhabi and when in London he stayed with Camilla and her family. In both places he had grandsons and greatly loved living with his two families.
He became ill with cancer in early 2016 and battled very courageously with endless treatments and operations. He remained extremely optimistic and never, ever complained until the end, on Easter Sunday, 17 April 2022. Both Seymour and Camilla looked after him with great love and care.
He was very fond of antique furniture, Persian rugs, Victorian oil paintings and shotguns. He was a fine
Arthur Blair
Arthur, who was born on 5 December 1948, had a conven- tional upbringing then joined the British Army before moving to Arizona, California, The Scottish Borders and finally Angus. A fine soldier and talented artist, a kind and generous person he made many friends from all walks of life.
Early life was divided between the Home Counties and Moray. His father, Major D A Blair (Seaforth Highlanders) was a somewhat distant figure working as a Director of the Distillers Company and playing top flight golf in the Open and Masters tournaments, amongst others. He enjoyed polo, steeplechasing, driving fast cars and tanks, skiing on snow and water, fishing or canoeing on any river he could find.
Prep School was Aysgarth where he excelled at sport but dreaded the end-of-term reports. It was not unknown for the reports to go missing until Arthur was safely back at school at the beginning of the next term. Further education at public school followed a similar pattern. At home a stream of bad-tempered ponies were supplied by his mother; most of which he mastered successfully. Then hunters and chasers including ‘The One Eyed Ghost Train’ who gave Arthur some hairy moments.
Family holidays in Scotland provided plenty of sport, however, Arthur was not always content with a conven- tional day in the field but would enjoy an evening spearing salmon and poaching roe deer, much to the annoyance of his father’s keeper. He was the leader of
sportsman and played tennis until his illness made this difficult. He had played squash and hockey at Corps and Army level and was the first person to represent Brunei internationally in sport.
He was perfectly suited to a career which took him on loan and contract service to the Middle East. He spoke Arabic and seemed to have a special understanding of Arabs and they of him. He had a keen understanding of geo-politics as well as of the local business world. He was very sought after for his experience of the region.
Mike was a charming, kind and loyal friend and family man who will miss him greatly.
One of Arthur’s paintings
the Blair pack when it came to wild parties, attracting many a pretty girl.
Army life started at Mons in 1967 and he was commissioned in 1968 into the Royal Scots Greys in Fallingbostel joining ‘A’ Squadron commanded by Malcom Shennan. His fellow subalterns were Randal Macgregor, Richard Eliot-Lockhart and Jonny Trotter. He was given the nickname of ‘Groovy’ as this was his go-to word after something amusing had happened. In 1970 he was posted to Sharjah and in 1971 he took part in the amalgamation parade as part of the Armoured
EAGLE AND CARBINE 145